Honours courses at Indian School of Business and Finance

The Indian School of Business and Finance (ISBF), one of the affiliate centres of the University of London, in association with the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), invites students to apply for its three-year full-time undergraduate honours degree programmes in B.Sc. Economics, B.Sc. Economics & Management and B.Sc. Business.

Applicants who have passed or appeared for the Class XII examination conducted by the CBSE or ISC may apply. Students, who have completed or are completing the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma or GSCE A-Levels, are also eligible to apply.

The applicants for this degree should have proficiency in both English and Mathematics. Candidates seeking to register for B.Sc. Economics need to have proof of competency in Mathematics (equivalent to Grade 12). For other programmes, candidates should be able to demonstrate ability in Mathematics (equivalent to Grade 10). Selections are made based on an entrance exam and personal interview. IB students with 30 credits or more may be exempt from the exam. The application forms may be downloaded from www.isbf.edu.in.

For further details, contact: 011405777033, 9971795613.

source:http://www.hindu.com/edu/2011/04/12/stories/2011041250070200.htm

CSIR UGC test

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has invited applications for joint CSIR-UGC National Eligibility Test (NET) to be held on June 19 for determining the eligibility for the award of junior research fellowship (JRF) and for appointment of lecturers in science subjects in universities and colleges across the country.

A candidate may apply either for JRF and lectureship or for lectureship only. Two separate merit lists will be prepared for JRF and lectureship. Candidates who qualify in JRF are eligible to receive scholarships or fellowships for their research studies leading Ph.D.

The test will be held in the following subjects:

Chemical sciences

Earth sciences

Life sciences

Mathematical sciences

Physical sciences

Eligibility: Those who have passed M.Sc. degree in any of these subjects with at least 55 per cent marks are eligible to apply for the test. Final year M.Sc. students can also apply. The upper age limit for the JRF is 28 years. There is no upper age limit for the lectureship examination.

Complete information of this test can be had from the website www.csirhrdg.res.in.

source:http://www.hindu.com/edu/2011/03/21/stories/2011032150650100.htm

Panel submits final blueprint of CET for central varsities

A panel of experts comprising of several vice-chancellors appointed by Human ResourceDevelopment (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal have submitted their final report and blueprint to the minister regarding the common admission procedure that has been recommended for all central universities in India.

According to the blueprint that has been finalized by the panel that is headed by former Jawaharlal Nehru University vice chancellor B.B. Bhattacharya, good under-graduate scores would remove half the pressure on a student of securing a post graduate admission in acentral university. 

This is because 50% weightage will be given to the previous academic performance of a student and the rest will be given to performance in the common entrance test.

The blue print for the common admissions will be discussed by the vice chancellors of about 200 central and state universities in India on March 25-26. 

Kapil Sibal has also planned common admissions to M.Phil. and Ph.D programmes at all of India's 40 central universities from the upcoming academic session of 2011.

According to the plans by the HRD ministry, the common entrance test for universities will also be extended for master's programmes in the year 2012 and to undergraduate programmes from the year 2013.

Admissions to central universities currently rely only on admission test for selecting students to be admitted for masters, M.Phil and Ph.D programmes. No specific weightage is given to scores achieved by students in previous programmes.

According to the University Grants Commission (UGC), an estimated number of 100 lakh students are pursuing undergraduate education currently over 500 central, state and deemed universities. Out of these, about 10 lakh students are studying at central universities.

Also, around a lakh are pursuing masters' programmes at central universities and about 5-10,000 are currently enrolled in M.Phil. and Ph.D programmes.

Earlier, the panel of vice chancellors headed by B.B. Bhattacharya had considered giving 30% weightage to scores of undergraduate degree programmes for master's admissions master's scored for M.Phil and M.Phil scores for Ph.D.

The weightage given to previous scores has been hiked by the panel in its final report. The report adds that only the scores of the final two years of the preceding academic degree course will be considered.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Today/Panel_submits_final_blueprint_of_CET_for_central_varsities_13668/

Exeter University becomes the first outside Russell Group to charge maximum fees

Exeter has become the first university outside the Russell Group to announce that it will charge the maximum £9,000 fee for a degree from next year, saying it will need the extra income to meet higher expectations from students.

Exeter, which follows Cambridge and Imperial College London in confirming plans to treble fees, also said it would offer fee waivers or bursaries for students from less well-off backgrounds. Ministers have said the maximum fee should only apply in "exceptional circumstances".

David Allen, Exeter's registrar and deputy chief executive, said: "By setting our fees at the £9,000 level we are able to continue to invest in the student experience, and spend a lot more money to bring in more people from less well-off backgrounds.

"We are talking about having more academic staff, improving the staff-student ratio, more contact hours. What we're doing is to try and give the best possible experience to our students."

Exeter is a member of the 1994 group of smaller research-intensive universities, which includes East Anglia, York and Leicester. Its decision will increase pressure on similar universities to opt for maximum fees to maintain their prestige. Some universities in this group are looking at whether to charge varying fees for different degrees.

Universities minister David Willetts said that institutions would only need to charge £6,000 to cover the costs of arts and humanities students, whose courses are cheaper than science or medicine.

He said: "The maximum allowable charge of £9,000 in 2012/13 would actually represent an increase for them of over 40% even after inflation, as against an increase of 20% or so for the other disciplines."

But Exeter said it would have to raise fees simply to maintain the same quality of teaching. Allen said: "Our own calculations show that we would need a fee of at least £7,000 just to stand still.

"I think you have to bear in mind there will be much higher student expectations, they will expect to see more staff, have better facilities, as more of the onus on paying for their education is coming on to them after graduating."

When fee waivers are taken into account, the average tuition fee would be less than £9,000, the university said. The fee announcement does not cover the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, which is a partnership between Exeter and Plymouth Universities.

The college lecturers' union, the UCU, said that the average fee needed to replace government funding cuts would be £6,863 for universities offering arts and humanities courses to break even. Sally Hunt, the UCU's general secretary, said: "Our own research shows to replace the money he [the government] has cut, the average fee needs to be almost £7,000. The government urgently needs to look again at the severity of its university funding cuts."

Universities could face a change in the law to stop some of them from charging students £9,000 a year if too many institutions are "clustering their charges at the upper end", the government warned last month.

• This article was amended on 2 March 2011. An editing error inserted references to Exeter as outside the top 20 in the Russell Group. This has been corrected.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/mar/02/exeter-university-to-charge-top-fees

Higher education, lower blood pressure: study

"The study focused on systolic blood pressure over diastolic blood pressure because “systolic hypertension is substantially more common than diastolic hypertension, and systolic blood pressure contributes more to the global disease burden attributable to hypertension than diastolic blood pressure."


WASHINGTON: The more advanced degrees a person has, the lower their blood pressure, a study published online Sunday found.

An analysis of some 4,000 patient records from the 30-year Framingham Offspring Study found that, controlling only for age, women with 17 years or more of education — a master’s degree or doctorate — had systolic blood pressure readings 3.26 millimeters of mercury lower than female high school drop-outs.

Men who went to graduate school had systolic blood pressure readings that were 2.26 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) lower than their counterparts who did not finish high school, the study, published online in the open access journal BMC Public Health, says.

The same inverse relationship between education and blood pressure was also seen, although to a lesser degree, in men and women who got associate’s or bachelor’s degrees at university but did not continue on to graduate school.

They showed greater blood pressure benefits than high school drop-outs but lesser benefits than holders of master’s degrees or doctorates, the study found.

Even after controlling for influences such as smoking, drinking, obesity and blood pressure medication, the benefits persisted, although at a lower level.

The study could help explain the widely documented association in developed countries between education and lower risk of heart disease, said lead author Eric Loucks, an assistant professor of public health at Brown University in Rhode Island.

Blood pressure is “one of the biological underpinnings of heart disease,” said Loucks, urging policy-makers who want to improve public health to think about improving access to education.

Source: http://www.dawn.com/2011/02/28/higher-education-lower-blood-pressure-study.html

New scheme for setting up of model degree colleges in 374 educationally backward district

New Delhi: Government has introduced a new scheme to provide central assistance for setting up of a model degree college in each of the identified 374 educationally backward district where Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for higher education is less than the national GER. Under the Scheme the Central Government shall provide assistance to the extent of one third of the capital cost for establishment of each college, limited to Rs.2.67 crore. For special category states (i.e. all North-Eastern States Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura, Assam, Sikkim, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand), the central share shall be 50 per cent of the capital cost limited to Rs. 4 core for each college. During the remaining period the 11th Five Year Plan , provision exists for establishing 200 model colleges in identified districts, with priority being given to special category states and districts having concentration of weaker sections and minorities as well as other districts in Schedule V and Schedule VI areas. Those colleges which have been established on or after 1st January, 2008 in identified districts shall also be eligible to be covered under this Scheme, subject to their satisfying the guidelines of University Grants Commission in respect of model colleges.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development Smt. D. Purandeswari, in a written reply to a question, in the Lok Sabha today.

source:http://www.indiaeducationdiary.in/Showlatest.asp?newsid=7956

MMST programme under IIT,kharagpur

The School of Medical Science and Technology under the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, has invited applications for admission to the three-year Masters in Medical Science and Technology (MMST) programme. MBBS degree holders with 55 per cent marks in aggregate who have studied mathematics at the Plus Two level may apply. Applicants should have aptitude for interdisciplinary medical research and application of technology in medicine. All admitted students are eligible for an assistantship of Rs.15,000 a month. Apply online from February 1 to March 4 on http://gate.iitkgp.ac.in/mmst.

source: http://www.hindu.com/edu/2011/02/01/stories/2011020150070200.htm